Anne Keothavong is feeling relaxed, confident and thoroughly positive about herself. And so she should. She is about to become the first British woman since Jo Durie in 1993 to be ranked in the world top 50 and, over the past year, in a determined and largely undemonstrative way, she has finally taken just a small segment of the spotlight away from Andy Murray, thereby reminding the public that women's tennis does still exist in Britain.

"Andy is a really good guy and very friendly. What he is doing is unbelievable, and he is potentially one of the best players of all time," she said. Keothavong knows she will never be in the Murray league, though she now has realistic hopes of pushing on into the top 30 – which would be a remarkable achievement for the 25-year-old Hackney-born player who learned her tennis on park courts. "I need to focus on what I am doing, because over the last two weeks I have played some good matches, and I'm feeling good."

Last year she made the breakthrough into the top 100 and this enabled her to spend a good chunk of November and December concentrating on getting stronger. Previously she had been so wrapped up with trying to win points on the ITF circuit that her season had extended well into the late autumn.

"I definitely came into this year with a lot of confidence after breaking through last year. I did a lot of work trying to build up my strength, and it's obviously paid off. It was the first time I've had six or seven weeks to work on my fitness, and various areas of my game. Now I don't think the top 30 is out of my reach. It's obviously going to be tough." But beating Hungary's Agnes Szavay last week, ranked No25 in the world, on her way to a semi-final in Auckland, has lifted Keothavong's self-belief another significant notch.

Now, in the first round of the Australian Open, she must have a real chance of upsetting Anna Chakvetadze, the 17th-seeded Russian. Chakvetadze reached a career high No5 two years ago, but has been struggling badly of late and is low on confidence – the antithesis of Keothavong. "I played her quite a few years ago before she became a top-10 player. It's a match I am looking forward to. I've got nothing to lose, I've enjoyed the experience of playing on bigger courts, and it's not just Wimbledon now. Hopefully it will help me in this next match, no matter whether it is an outside court or not."

Keothavong had her best slam yet at the US Open last year, reaching the last 32 and defeating Italy's Francesca Schiavone, who was seeded No25. "I am very excited. I was a disappointed to lose the semi-final in Auckland, but you learn from it and try not to repeat the same kind of mistakes. The more I get myself in those situations the better I will handle it. Playing at this level is still new to me, although I'm 25, but I'm confident I will learn."

A tournament victory in May last year took Keothavong into the top 100 for the first time, though it was in Lebanon and may not be on her schedule this time around. While she was playing, Hezbollah and Sunni fighters were engaged in fierce combat just 10 miles away in Beirut, resulting in more than 40 deaths.

"Although it was perfectly safe where we were, it was scary to think of what was happening nearby," Keothavong said. "I think my parents [who are in Melbourne to watch her] were very worried. They got in touch and wanted me to get home as soon as possible."

British women's tennis has been so steadfastly in the doldrums, that to have both Keothavong and Mel South in the main singles draw has caused considerable amusement, with the British men limited to just Murray. Today Elena Baltacha and Katie O'Brien have a chance to join them, while all of the British men trying to negotiate the qualifiers have been knocked out.

Serena Williams, who captured this title two years ago when she was ranked outside the top 80, has been making it clear to all who care to listen that she still considers herself the best player in the world, and intends to prove it. But there can be no all-Williams final, with Venus in the same half of the draw.

Serbia's Jelena Jankovic, who lost in last year's excellent US Open final against Serena, is the top seed and world No1, but has yet to win a slam, something Serena, with nine majors to her name, has not been backwards in pointing out here. Given the current uncertain state of women's tennis a Williams win would seem likely, and, in all probability, it will be Serena.